Young kitsune meat was sitting there. Hoping that my attention on him would be temporary.
I yawned and stretched out my arms. Kouki the kitsune jumped on my leather sofa. So jittery. So frightened. So pleasurable to my eyes.
"Parents?" I asked.
"Exorcised," he mumbled glumly.
Yup. Exorcisms still happen on occasion. This century had greatly reduced the number of wannabe exorcists to a scarcity. Science and all that fluff about superstitions. Worked out well for us but this kitsune was probably from the rural side. That's where those rare exorcists mostly reside. Even I had to be very wary of them.
"Rural kid, huh?"
He nodded. Bingo, an orphan yōkai. Perfect.
No style too. Judging from his oversized checked shirt and loose khaki pants, plus that messy long hair. Ahh crap. Who am I to talk? I forgot that I was still wearing that damn cafe uniform. I went to the mirrors on the side of my office. Those were actually designed to hide the storage and cupboards.
A push and the door opened, revealing my black suits. I flipped through them and took out one - the high collar Armani. Then the teleportation aura.
Damn, was Kouki thinking of really escaping. Unfortunately, he is too drained of his yōkai powers. The omamori vacuumed most of his powers from him. That's why we don't touch such charms directly.
I changed my clothing at leisurely pace. He could continue draining his own strength in the attempt to escape for all I care. No harm.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?"
Oh shit.
Daija.
I forgot that he would check in after half an hour.
Half an hour to do a meticulous OCD-ish clean of his motorcycle always after use.
After zipping my pants, I turned around, only to be greeted by him standing over the shrinking wuss named Kouki.
"Came to check if you are fine," he smirked while staring at Kouki with those hungry eyes.
"I am fine."
"Yeah, I see that, especially when you have a ready to eat snack here," he sniffed the trembling Kouki and his forked tongue flicked out in intimidation.
"Hhhhhmmmmssshhh," the young kitsune's rattling teeth chattered.
Poor kid. Daija was taking a piss at his expense. If he wanted to swallow, Kouki would be gone in a human heartbeat before I could finish zipping up.
"Well, since you are okay, I am going to clean my gun. Want me to do yours for maintenance?" Daija stepped away.
I chuckled, "Nah, mine is just a clean shot."
"Whatever, dirty girl, see ya," he said nonchalantly, with a wave before teleporting away to his usual section in my building.
A beep on my iPhone.
Interesting, it was the lazy tanuki guards of mine. I looked at the message.
[Unknown kitsune x1 smelled in CEO's office]
Their noses work but a tad slow. Tapping my reply with a grin - that would scare them.
[About half an hour too late?]
Another reply.
[Oh it's boss. We wanted to alert you.]
Why do I even bother to keep those shameless morons on my payroll? If Hage hadn't asked for the favour, his ten fabulously obese tanuki yōkai brethren won't even have a job. They should have been the sloth yōkai. Slow and inefficient.
The loud caws of the squabbling crows distracted me for a bit. I drew the curtains to reveal the lightening dark skies. A look at my iPhone, it is 5 am. Sun rise is starting.
"How much sunlight can you take?" I asked Kouki, who was now curled up in his corner.
"Not much. My tail will reveal itself."
Guess this kid needs his bedtime before we prep him to meet my old teacher, Sojobo. Even Daija had some training under old Sojobo. That's how I met Daija.
"Go rest first." I replied.
***
The alarm beeped at 5pm. I shook the sleeping curled up human form of a kitsune up.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead."
"Huh?" Kouki rubbed his eyes
"Hurry up, neaten yourself." I threw him a comb and a hair tie for his messy shoulder length hair.
"Where are we going?" He asked innocently.
"To fatten you up." I smiled, revealing my canines.
This is so precious. He shrunk back again. This kid was way too easy to scare. In fact, that almost human-like behaviour displayed in a yōkai was disgusting. The kitsune looked like he was about to cry.
To a human, 50 years old is considered almost elderly in their short lifespan. To us, that's a kid in our dreadfully long lifespans. Kouki is an equivalent of a 12-year-old human child who doesn't know any better. By joining Yako's lot, he is like a pre-teen delinquent.
The fact that Yako sent him right into danger was almost like the old fart felt threatened.
For a yōkai to be able to shape shift in human form within that 50-year-old mark is already impressive. Had it been anything more than 50, Kouki would be a nice dinner with some seasoning. Scratch that, lots of seasoning. And some good strong sake. So this kid had a sort of x-factor about him.
"Are you always so afraid of everything? We are going to get you new clothes."
Those clothes of his were from some thrift shop of sorts or discarded seconds. One can't present like that to old Sojobo. Sojobo is the reputed King of the Tengu.
The Tengu yōkai looked like human men with oversized crow wings. There are no female Tengu by the way. Famous for their magical liquor and fans.
Those fans are their primary weapon. Don't underestimate it. A Glock can't beat their fans. One wave, something could fly out at cyclonic speed. Daggers, spells, garbage - you name it, could fly in mass bulk from those seemingly small fans.
The Tengu are infamous for wearing those red masks with long noses to scare the fuck out of humans. To tell you the truth, without those masks, the human females would be head over heels in love with them. Some Tengu would be supermodel material for those dumb fashion male magazines.
That could be also a reason why they want to appear ugly. Nothing like trying to get rid of a clingy emotional human female.
Occasionally, a Tengu stud may take a fancy to a human girl or another yōkai, and that's how little Tengu are made. Most of the Tengu are womanisers. Faithless assholes. Being handsome is a blight on them. The better looking, the more you should avoid. Dated and dumped some in my younger, carefree days. Back when daddy still can take on physical form and scare the hell out of them.
There are a few faithful ones who got involved with the human female. Heard of 'till death do we part'. Nah, doesn't work that way for that rare bunch. The woman dies and they won't even let go of her ghost, if it is still willing to stay.
Sojobo had a harem of his own. Oh yeah. Hot grandpa Daiyōkai in his often custom tailored Armani suits with plenty of ladies. What else do you expect from the King of the Tengu? Half the Tengu of Mount Kurama, his stronghold in Kyoto, are either his sons, grandsons, great grandsons or miscellaneous distant descendants. All powerful and wealthy. Sake business mostly. They have quite a few Daiyōkai amongst their ranks known as the Daitengu, yeah, 'Big Tengu'.
Even Yako, Masakage and Norimitsu steer clear of the Tengu.
The Tengu have charm, they have grace and most importantly , they have taste.
That's why Kouki can't present in rags to those stuck up fashionable assholes. Neither can he smell like an unwashed mortal fox rolling in his piss for days. And with the general seductive classy reputation of his own kind, the kitsune, his current look may leave Sojobo feeling insulted.
Probably a nice fitted suit, and leather shoes in place of those nasty dirt stained sneakers. Not to mention a good scrubbing and some very good, strong cologne. Hugo Boss perhaps? Or maybe Drakkar Noir.
Kouki definitely needs to be trained well. That is if Sojobo thinks that he has the ability.